The sixth book in the House of Night is all about Kalona invading Zoey’s dreams.
What I Liked
There is some interesting stuff with Shauna Rae and the red fledglings, including who is falling in line and how isn’t. And we get to see the governing council of vampyres in Italy. Plus we get to see more of Rephaim with Shauna Rae.
What I Didn’t Like
The love quadrangle has morphed into some polygamy arrangement for Zoey (finally?) yet the angst still remains. And again, we have the “we can’t ever go back to the HoN” followed a couple of chapters later by, “Hey, why don’t we go to the HoN?”. I know it’s a mother / daughter writing duo, but are they writing different chapters and not reading each other’s stuff?
The House of Night series continues with book 5, with Kalona and Neferet spreading their power over the House.
What I Liked
The red fledglings have a bigger presence with Shauna Rae in the lead as their de facto High Priestess, and we start to see Neferet’s relationship with Kalona. And just for fun, Aphrodite has imprinted with Shauna Rae. I also like that Zoey retreats from the sexual maturity she developed in book 4, instead of just “okay, let’s have sex with anyone now cuz I did it with Blake”. Real consequences, real reactions to the betrayal. The addition of the Raven Mockers is a major uptick in the baddies department, all leading to a real battle at the end.
What I Didn’t Like
The book is a bit slow in places, and the whole Erik / Stark / Heath quadrangle is vomit-inducing — pick one, don’t pick one, don’t care. I’m also getting tired of the “we can’t go back to the HoN” one minute followed by “the only place we can go is the HoN” flip/flop.
Nancy Drew almost runs over a young girl who darts out on the road, but manages to avoid her. As she meets the girl and the two sisters looking after her, Nancy learns that they are the potential heirs to a promised fortune, but the only will known to exist disinherited them. Nancy searches to see if there is another will.
What I Liked
Nancy meets four or five groups of deserving “heirs” and they all are a bit one-dimensional but good. They each have a small piece of the puzzle to share. The family that currently is set to inherit everything are not very nice, and while equally a bit one-dimensional, they serve their function well-enough. As do the various bad guys running around (a secondary story of thieves robbing houses). Almost a hundred years later, the story still holds up.
What I Didn’t Like
As I said, the characters are a bit one-dimensional. Equally though, it becomes very clear quite quickly where the hidden will might be (clue: it’s in the title!) and so it is more a scavenger hunt than detective work. Similarly for the secondary story of the thieves, which knocks the overall score down a peg.
The Bottom Line
Welcome to the wonderful world of detective Nancy Drew
A young Indigenous teen growing up in Northern Michigan on the border with Canada deals with love, friends, hockey and crime in her community.
What I Liked
Daunis is trying to figure out who she is — as a person, as an Ojibwe native, as a friend, as a daughter. She lost a family member under a cloud, and some young members of her community have been overdosing of late. It’s cool to see the personal side develop as she meets a new member of the local hockey team, and tries to resist his charms without much success. Meanwhile, there are lots of side developments. There’s a particular scene with her community as she turns 18 that is really moving and heartwarming. I liked the overall story enough just to read about her, without introducing the whole “FBI informant” role as they investigate drugs coming into the community. It is not a typical style of story that I like, but it was amazingly well done, and I enjoyed visiting the community through her eyes.
What I Didn’t Like
Some of the action stuff is a little overdone, but not enough to pull away from the overall story.
Two women making their way in a man’s world during prohibition in Los Angeles — Letty Hart making wine for the local church, Annabel Forman bucking to be made detective.
What I Liked
I liked that there wasn’t a lot of backstory for either woman. The story starts at the jump with Hart making legal wine for the church during prohibition, until the church decides to go with another distributor and putting her effectively out of business. You also meet Forman who convinces her boss to give her a real case, a theft of high-end jewellery from a wealthy woman. Add in bent cops and a friend on the party circuit, the story is decent. With a bit of action on the side.
What I Didn’t Like
I would have liked to see more interaction between the two women, it is more like parallel stories until the end with a “forced” scene in the middle. As well, there is a somewhat contrived action scene with a fire, and a young man who is the stupidest person on the planet apparently, although some of it is implied by involvement with the church as a slam. But mostly I knocked a star off the rating for the final “twist” at the climax, both seen coming and a shallow payout that drags on way too long. I felt like I was watching two kids argue “Did too! Did not! Did too! Did not!”.
Disclosure
I received a free reader’s copy of this book as part of the Amazon Prime First Reads program. I am not personal friends with the author, nor have I ever interacted with them on social media.
The Bottom Line
Good story, fun read, a bit shallow on the mystery
